How fake news is manufactured
By Dr. Robert Owens
web posted May 18, 2020
Our President has pointed out the fake news at many of his rallies and news conferences. He specifically identifies CNN, MSNBC, The AP, The New York Times and The Washington Post as primary sources for the misinformation and downright lies that pass for news among the low-information voters.
The Democrats who identify as journalists served up a perfect case in point on Friday.
Every freedom loving patriot celebrated the dismissal of the trumped-up charges against General Michael Flynn. After years of news articles calling him everything from a liar to a Russian agent the media begrudgingly had to report that all charges were dropped. Why after ruining this good man’s finances and career did the Justice Department finally release him from their gulag of lies?
The US attorney reviewing the Flynn case, Jeff Jensen, recommended the move to Attorney General William Barr earlier this month and formalized the recommendation in a document last week saying, “Through the course of my review of General Flynn’s case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case. I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.” The Justice Department said it had concluded that Flynn’s interview by the FBI was “untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn” and that the interview on January 24, 2017 was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”
This recommendation led to the court action by the Justice Department. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Timothy Shea said in a court briefing, “The United States of America hereby moves to dismiss with prejudice the criminal information filed against Michael T. Flynn. The government has determined, pursuant to the principles of federal prosecution and based on an extensive review and careful consideration of the circumstances, that continued prosecution of this case would not serve the interests of justice." Without prejudice means the government cannot refile these charges.
These conclusions, recommendations, and actions were based on the release of previously secret Justice Department documents relating to the Flynn case that included a handwritten note from former FBI counterintelligence director Bill Priestap. After he met with then-FBI Director James Comey and then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Priestap wrote: “What’s our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”
Another document in that release indicates the FBI was planning to close the investigation into Flynn before Trump took office in January 2017. But, then two weeks before Trump’s inauguration, anti-Trump former FBI official Peter Strzok wrote: “Hey, don’t close RAZOR,” using the codeword for a probe into whether Flynn was a Russian agent. Strzok wrote that “7th floor involved.” The 7th Floor is a reference to FBI leadership.
The Flynn part of the coup attempt was summed up by President Trump, “He’s in the process of being exonerated if you looked at those notes. These were dirty, filthy cops at the top of the FBI.”
So here we have an innocent man hounded and railroaded into pleading guilty to a crime he didn’t commit. The wheels of justice slowly roll around and he’s completely exonerated. Here is where the fake news industry gets rolling. Enlisting their biggest spokesman himself fires off the following broadside of bilge.
The next day President Obama emerges from his palatial retirement and does his best to cast the mud of these false accusations back on a man who served this country’s military honorably for more than thirty years saying, “The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn.
And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That's the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we've seen in other places.”
These opinions were then published, broadcast, and in general swilled out for those locked into the Corporations Once Know as the Mainstream Media.
These outrageous statements didn’t require more than twenty-four hours for even other Progressives to start punching holes in them.
According to Jonathan Turley a professor at the George Washington University Law School, a legal analyst in broadcast and print journalism, who has testified in United States Congressional proceedings about constitutional and statutory issues, who participated in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, and who is a self-avowed liberal said, "It is a curious statement. First and foremost, Flynn was not charged with perjury. Second, we now know Obama discussed charging Flynn under the Logan Act which has never been used successfully to convict anyone and is flagrantly unconstitutional. Third, this reaffirms reports that Obama was personally invested in this effort."
Continuing Turley pointed out there’s precedent for the Justice Department's sudden decision. And to find it President Obama had to look no further than his own Attorney General, Eric Holder.
To give substance to his statement Turley said, "There is a specific rule allowing for this motion under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a). There are specific Supreme Court cases like Rinaldi v. United States addressing the standard for such dismissals. The Justice Department has dismissed cases in the past including the Stevens case. That was requested by President Obama's own Attorney General Eric Holder for the same reason: misconduct by prosecutors. It was done before the same judge, Judge Sullivan. How is that for precedent?"
Lies are propagated and disseminated as truth broadcast 24/7 by the discredited media which is nothing more than a Democrat echo chamber. In this case they’re straining at the bit and trying valiantly to keep the Russia Hoax which was the center piece of their failed coup attempt alive, at least in the minds of the low-information voters.
This is how the fake news is manufactured. 
Dr. Robert Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2020 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens